Adobe Illustrator CC 2015 User Manual download pdf (Page 152)

147

Color

Last updated 6/5/2015

About process colors

A process color is printed using a combination of the four standard process inks: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black

(CMYK). Use process colors when a job requires so many colors that using individual spot inks would be expensive or

impractical, as when printing color photographs.

Keep the following guidelines in mind when specifying a process color:

• For best results in a high-quality printed document, specify process colors using CMYK values printed in process

color reference charts, such as those available from a commercial printer.

• The final color values of a process color are its values in CMYK, so if you specify a process color using RGB (or LAB,

in InDesign), those color values will be converted to CMYK when you print color separations. These conversions

differ based on your color-management settings and document profile.

• Don’t specify a process color based on how it looks on your monitor, unless you are sure you have set up a color-

management system properly, and you understand its limitations for previewing color.

• Avoid using process colors in documents intended for online viewing only, because CMYK has a smaller color

gamut than that of a typical monitor.

• Illustrator and InDesign let you specify a process color as either global or non-global. In Illustrator, global process

colors remain linked to a swatch in the Swatches panel, so that if you modify the swatch of a global process color, all

objects using that color are updated. Non-global process colors do not automatically update throughout the

document when the color is edited. Process colors are non-global by default. In InDesign, when you apply a swatch

to objects, the swatch is automatically applied as a global process color. Non-global swatches are unnamed colors,

which you can edit in the Color panel.

Note: Global and non-global process colors only affect how a particular color is applied to objects, never how colors separate

or behave when you move them between applications.

Using spot and process colors together

Sometimes it’s practical to use process and spot inks in the same job. For example, you might use one spot ink to print

the exact color of a company logo on the same pages of an annual report where photographs are reproduced using

process color. You can also use a spot color printing plate to apply a varnish over areas of a process color job. In both

cases, your print job would use a total of five inks—four process inks and one spot ink or varnish.

In InDesign, you can mix process and spot colors together to create mixed ink colors.

Comparing colors in InDesign and Illustrator

Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator use slightly different methods for applying named colors. Illustrator lets you

specify a named color as either global or nonglobal, and InDesign treats all unnamed colors as nonglobal, process colors.

The InDesign equivalents to global colors are swatches. Swatches make it easier to modify color schemes without having

to locate and adjust each individual object. This is especially useful in standardized, production-driven documents like

magazines. Because InDesign colors are linked to swatches in the Swatches panel, any change to a swatch affects all

objects to which a color is applied.

The InDesign equivalents to nonglobal swatches are unnamed colors. Unnamed colors do not appear in the Swatches

panel, and they do not automatically update throughout the document when the color is edited in the Color panel. You

can, however, add an unnamed color to the Swatches panel later.

Named and unnamed colors only affect how a particular color updates in your document, never how colors separate

or behave when you move them between applications.

1 2 ... 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 ... 555 556

Comments to this Manuals

No comments

Adobe Illustrator CC 2015 User Manual Page 152

Comments to this Manuals

Related products and manuals for Software Adobe Illustrator CC 2015